My Five-Minute Review of the New Emirates Business Class Seat

When I was at ITB Berlin earlier this month, I had a chance to speak with many airline and hotel industry experts, but among my favorite visits were those with a chance to try out the product in person, including the new Emirates business class seat.

Many people write about the flashier first class suites on the Airbus A380, which also includes the option to take an in-flight shower. But I’m not likely to fly that anytime soon. Let me take a moment to explain why these new business class seats are big news for Seattle travelers.

Emirates now operates twice-daily service to Seattle, where I live, using a Boeing 777-300ER and 777-200LR. The A380 is simply too big to navigate the narrow taxiways without shutting down ground traffic, and if you want the street cred of taking a shower in the air you won’t get that satisfaction on a Boeing. Ugh. It also takes a lot more miles when booking a first class award through Alaska Airlines. So business class makes sense — except that the current business class on these planes reclines at an angle. Double ugh.

These new lie-flat business class seats will be a significant improvement when they’re rolled out to the entire Boeing 777-300ER fleet (other Boeing 777 models won’t get them), and that’s why it matters here in Seattle, where it may be the best option compromise of comfort, convenience, and cost.

However, Emirates will arrange their new business class in a 2-3-2 configuration that some bloggers think is unacceptable. And they have a point: many carriers today provide business class in a 1-2-1 configuration with all-aisle access for business travelers or maybe 2-2-2 with some window seats that work well for couples.

No one wants a middle seat in business class. So just how bad is it?

Surprisingly good.

Here’s a shot from my perspective while sitting in the middle seat of this demonstration unit. I could see the televisions of the passengers next to me, but I couldn’t see the other passengers at all. The seats have very high partitions between seats that can be raised even further for added privacy. Unless you’re claustrophobic you should be just fine. I thought this seat was much more private than the Lufthansa A380 business class that I took on the way to Berlin (no divider between my seatmate and me), or the American Airlines 787 I took from Los Angeles to Tokyo (I was facing another passenger for the entire journey).

The seat also has tons of amenities to go along with all that walnut paneling and chrome. Not just power outlets, but your own personal minibar.

This arm rest has seven different seat controls and flips up to reveal one of the sturdiest tray tables I’ve ever used. How they get this thing in the air amazes me. Nothing about the seat is flimsy or cheap.

The seat (by this time I switched back to the aisle) had a blanket and headphones waiting on an ottoman. I appreciated that there was no annoying cubby for your feet. When fully reclined I felt that I could probably lie on my back and sleep well.

But if you can’t rest, the coolest feature may be the detachable tablet. Each seat has a 23-inch television, a handheld remove/video screen, and this larger table that rests in a dock to your right. Hopefully they have a content selection to match. With all the international travel I did in the last two months I was seriously running low on interesting material.

Ultimately I’m very pleased. I’ll still do everything I can to avoid sitting in this middle seat when I fly on Emirates, but I am no longer as concerned about getting a raw deal when I use my Alaska miles to fly business class on Emirates. Either my wife will let us connect and try the A380, or we’ll take this direct from Seattle. Either way I think we’ll have a good trip.

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I like it especially the legroom! I know a lot of folks prefer the reverse herringbone seat but I always felt these types of seats have wider space for the feet for sleeping. When you reclined it, was there ample space for the shoulders or does one have to sleep on the side to be more comfortable?

I wouldn’t describe it as ample, but it was sufficient and comfortable. I’m not a big guy, so that helped.

I’ll add one more point of comparison: I hated American’s 777-300ER business class that I flew on the way back. The left arm rest was too far away and the right arm rest was too close. It was uncomfortable to just sit in, regardless of its merits as a lie-flat bed. I’d much rather have Emirates’ seat with more limited space but better designed.

masimons

Agreed, AA business is too narrow in the shoulder, and I’m only 5′ 10″. Had to sleep on my side. So need to turn around occasionally.

Matthew Cameron

The main problem, for me, with this configuration is that whoever is in the middle needs to climb over whoever is on the aisle in order to reach the restroom if that individual is fully reclined. That is not something I want to do when flying business. Its expected in economy.

There is maybe one or two feet of space. If you’re nimble you can do it, but you’ll have to sit upright first.

Varun Mandi

Hey Scott! I had a question regarding using American miles for a business award ticket on Emirates. It seems that whenever I try to book a long-haul award (say LAX to MidEast/India), American asks 60,000 miles each way in business, but routes me to SEA in first, then from SEA to DXB in economy. Even from SEA, I’m routed to LAX in First, then LAX to DXB in economy. Is there anyway to get the transatlantic (LAX to DXB) in business as well? Thanks!

The issue here is limited award space. If business class award space was there then you would be able to book it at the business class price.

In this case, there is no nonstop award space so you have to make a connection. Although the longer flight is in coach, there is a first class domestic segment (because economy class award space is not avaialble) so Alaska compromises and charges the business class price.

Emirates will be installing this new business class only on newly delivered Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, the first of which arrive in November of this year. There are currently no plans to retrofit the existing fleet.

That said, I think it’s still good news for the Seattle market. As I said, there isn’t a real option to send the A380 here like Emirates does to most other U.S. markets when it needs to boost capacity. It’s possible that the older 777-300ER already used for SEA-DXB could be swapped out for a newer plane. It’s also possible that when there is a need for greater capacity, Emirates will swap out the 777-200LR that operates the other frequency with a new 777-300ER. Although business and first class capacity on each 777 model are the same, the 300ER has room for 88 more passengers in economy (40% increase).

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